Merry Christmas!

I would like to take a moment to wish you all a wonderful Christmas.

Make sure you have a great evening with your loved ones because it is not just about presents, it is about family and good times together.

As for me, I look forward to a night of fun, good food and most of all laughs with my family like each year. I wouldn't miss that for the world.

Hope you will have as much fun as me!

Challenge "Textures Haute Couture"

I do not usually do challenges that I see online because I am always way too impressed busy to take part in them.

One blog I follow on a weekly basis is Parole de Pâte which is a French blog dedicated to polymer clay.

Last September, they launched a challenge opened to everyone and all levels on the theme of "Haute Couture": we were given pictures of designers' clothes and had to design a piece of jewellery inspired by one of them.

At first, I thought it was too challenging for me, but as I was scrolling down the pictures, I saw one and thought: "that's it! that's the one!".

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I sat in my workshop and got started...now that the deadline has passed and the pictures posted on the blog, I can show my contribution to you my dear readers :-)

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I really like this pendant. What about you?
Oh! and you can go check out the wonderful pieces the others made here!

Happy Friday everyone!

What time is it?

Not everyone can plan their retirement with as much style and fun as Obama did. Whether you liked him or not as a President, you have to admit that this guy is cool!

For those of us who are not President of the United States and are about to retire, there are, fortunately, other ways to say goodbye and get ready for this next chapter in our lives.

Some people like a discreet exit, some will just have quiet farewell drinks with their colleagues, some will make crazy parties...at the end of the day, everyone does what they feel comfortable with.

And sometimes, you come across this person that makes this impression on you and you know you will never forget after all these years working together or sharing an office with. Depending on the relationship you've built, you may have shared more than that: life experiences, the joys, the pains...

So when the time comes for those special people to go, you want to do something special for them.

My sister had such a colleague and she wanted to do something special for her retirement: she came to me and asked me to think of something, keeping in mind that she did not want anything fimo related, that she liked the colour orange and that I had two weeks. Talking about a challenge!

As always, I turned to the internet for inspiration. I found a few ideas and submitted them to her, hoping she would go for the one I had my eyes on already: a retirement clock. And it was exactly what she chose.

Now that she has given it to her, I can show it to you
 

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A sleepless night

It is the end of the day: you're home, you've had dinner, watched a bit of TV or talked with your other half and then went to bed. The only problem is, you've been lying there for a while now and...you cannot sleep. You check the time over and over again, you can see that it is passing by and that the more it does, the less sleep you are gonna get. But you still can't sleep. "Why can't you sleep?" the little voice in your head starts saying. And so the thinking begins when you should be resting. You start thinking about the day you've had, the things you've done, the things you haven't done, the day to come, the things you'll have to do...and so on...

 

I know in those moments, I would like to just switch my brain off but it is never that easy. The more I try to, the more it decides to think and get superactive!

My brain is always active, always thinking. It gets worse if an important event occurs whether it is happy, sad, stressful... Some nights I do not sleep at all.

If you're like me, you will find something to do: you're already awake so why waste this time in bed anyway, huh?

The other night I ended up in my workshop, at my table. I've had watched the Great French Bake Off a couple of days earlier: the theme was "American cakes" which included them baking a cake designed around Halloween. One of the contestants made a brain cake. This image stayed in my mind since that episode. So I knew exactly what I would do.

It did not help me sleep but I had fun making these little brains.

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What about you? Do you sometimes stay awake and complete projects at night? What was the last one you made?

A Clutch Bag

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One of my friends got married back in April. She planned it for quite some time and also asked for some help when it came to the decorations. But that is another story that I will tell you about later.

Of course, when I started thinking about my outfit for the wedding, I thought that I could make my own dress and accessories. I know, I still have faith in me like that. But after a few projects, I came to the quick realisation that it would never happen. Therefore I went to the shop and found a cute little black and white dress. All I needed were the accessories. The only thing was that I got so caught up in the decorations for the wedding that I never found the time to do all the things I wanted to do. Time just flies when you work on top of crafting! And there I was, two weeks before the wedding with just...a dress. I was determined however to do one thing myself: my handbag. I also went for (what I thought was) the simplest option...a clutch bag. I bought some fabric: black leatherette (or faux leather) and some red satin. Made my own measurements for the clutch bag and got started



After two failed clutches, the third attempt was the right one, but I still have a lot of work to do in order to master the art of sewing a zipper on something.

I really love the effect on the leatherette like it is reptile skin:

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And it goes perfectly with the red lining too:

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This clutch had a lot of success and I can now add it to my list of finished projects :-)

I shall let you know about the wedding decorations at a later time so until then, take care!

Crafting is...dangerous

Maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic here, but hear me out and you will understand where I am going.

 

My fellow crafters, you know the deal: you work on a project, then you think of a way to add something to it. Or you see something that inspires you online and then start looking at how it is done and how it would fit in your current hobby. There are so many reasons which can lead to finding something new that it is almost impossible to stick to only one sort of craft. Well...at least for me.

 

I did explain in my previous post that I had learnt the basics of embroidery over night in order to add a nice personal touch to my best friend's baby towel.

 

The obvious thing to do with the leftover fabric was to practise of course. And as I had some thread at home from other projects I had worked on, I already had everything.  Browsing through the Internet for something fun to practise on, I found a picture of a character I knew from my childhood, Mafalda. She was the main character from an Argentinian comic strip. Me though, I got to "know" her once it got adapted for TV (if you don't know her, you can check out the opening credits here).

 

It reminded quite a few memories and one in particular: my older sister. She loved Mafalda and still do. As her birthday was coming a few weeks later, I decided to make this my next project and her birthday present.

 

This project made me realise that cross stitching takes a long time. A very, very long time. I thought I would never finish it on time. But a few weeks later, I did (the night before the birthday party lol). I framed it, wrapped it and boom! She smiled when she opened it so it was worth it. And this probably marks the beginning of other embroidery projects...

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Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spend time on YouTube watching opening credits from all of my childhood programmes. Thank you Mafalda!!

Babies!

Not mine. It is actually my friends who all seem to be having babies lately :-)

You know me, I like sewing, on top of jewellery making, knitting and many other things. And when it comes to making garments, I am a sucker for tiny things as they are a good way to practise, can be done faster and well...they are so cute!!!!

New design

Hi everyone,

In case you hadn't noticed, there have been some changes here.

I have been wanting to change my blog's look for a long time but never managed to find the time or the direction I wanted to take when it comes to its design.

I took the opportunity of a week off work to sit down and work on it. The main idea was that I definitely wanted something much clearer with lighter colours and a simple design: what is simpler than white, huh?!

Once the background was decided, all that was left was the content: it hasn't really changed. My hobbies are still the same but I changed the way the menu looks.

Blogger is great for blogging but it can be limited when you decide that you want a blog that looks a bit different than the others. After doing a little research on a lot of blogs and tutorials on how to change blogger, I've finally managed to get to what I wanted.

This research also helped me find out some very useful tools that I have been using for the last few weeks. One of them is PicMonkey.

This online editor allows you to edit your pictures as well as creating designs. It's no Photoshop, but for someone like me who is not really good with it, it is great! Plus, I've just noticed on their website that the application is now available so you can edit your pictures on the go! I need to try that.

I have used PicMonkey to make my header as well as my menu. I've also used it for my social media buttons (the big round yellow one on the right, yes)

Talking about round button, you will have noticed a green one just below: yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally taken the plunge and opened an online shop via A Little Market! I opened it a little while ago but couldn't get myself to put things on it. But now I have. Everything is still not there but I will add them as I go along. Please feel free to go take a look at my creations there :-)

Well, I hope you enjoy my blog's new design. Feel free to comment to let me know what you think: it is always good to get feedback.

Until next time!